“Experimental” and “avant-garde” may be the most overused and misapplied words in the entirety of the metal lexicon. Not because they are bad words to use generally (they are, in fact, quite good), but mainly because there’s no way in hell for a listener to know what a writer is…

Vitriol are a death metal band from Portland, Oregon. Their debut EP, Pain Will Define Their Death, drops November 10th. Here’s hoping that next year they drop a full-length record. And perhaps another the year after that. Same the following year. So on and so forth. Mark your calendars, tune your EQ to “Deadly”, and prepare yourself for abject disappointment, because this EP only has three songs and that isn’t nearly enough music from this monumentally talented band. We need more of this, dammit, and we need it NOW!

It’s been a while, but we’re back, so welcome to another edition of Connecting the Dots, and today we will be focusing on mathcore masterminds The Dillinger Escape Plan! Whilst they’re soon going to be shutting up shop (R.I.P), we can remain eternally grateful to the incredible records they’ve released during their two-decade career, their vicious live performances, and the incredible other musical projects they leave in their wake. Without further ado, let’s dive into the amazing projects these musicians have been a part of.

We’ve spoken a lot over the past few years about modern progressive metal; we seem to go back and forth between derision/exasperation with the genre and hope for the future, as many new musicians seem to be intent on dragging the more conservative and tired elements of the genre into the future. Luckily, I’m here today to talk about the latter; PSION deal in the kind of energetic and fresh progressive metal that’s sorely needed today and which blends well with the (re)surging interest in the genre. Their music is the kind of sleek, engaging progressive metal which channels influences from the past of the genre while doing plenty of interesting things with it to keep the listener interested.

The following article is a collaboration between editors Jonathan Adams and Scott Murphy. Before we dive in, let’s make one thing clear—we and Decibel (“America’s only monthly extreme music magazine”) agree that 2017 has been an exceptional year for death metal. Jonathan has highlighted countless fantastic death metal albums this…

This year charges on and doesn’t appear to show any signs of slowing down. As we near the six month mark (and our own Top 25 of 2017 So Far), it’s becoming apparent that 2017 hits on broader fronts than 2016 did. While the previous year was an amazing year for some very specific genres, there were others that suffered less than stellar performance. With 2017, there’s very little that’s left untouched, with great releases coming from left and right. The list below is a great example of this; it contains post rock, grindcore, jazz, psychedelic electronics, death metal, stoner and oh so much more. Each of these sub-genres have been producing great releases this year, giving 2017 the illusion of a siege. From us, the nominal besieged, a measure of elasticity is required; we must keep our ears open and listen to new places, places we might have abandoned up until now.

Man, this has been quite the year for weird, skronky extreme metal, hasn’t it? In the past four full months, we’ve gotten releases ranging from great to genre-defining from Sunless, Dodecahedron, Ingurgitating Oblivion, Artificial Brain, and Ulsect, in roughly that order chronologically. It’s almost too much to handle, especially in a genre as heady and labyrinthine as this. Truly, our collective cup has been runnething over for some time now, and now John Frum is here to refill our cup once again, whether we like it or not.

There are plenty of death metal, post metal and black metal bands that use the art of the aural assault to their advantage. It is not a new concept to just charge full speed ahead with little to no breaks along the way in order to convey an air of ferocity or ever-swirling evil. However it can sometimes fatigue the listener when all you have is this constant wall of sound blaring non-stop. Ulsect have a deft understanding of this on their debut, self-titled album. While quite a bit of the album is an endless barrage of sound, it uses select times to allow you to stop and take in the finer details before pulling you back under to struggle.

Rough week! We have some news to discuss, and Ben of Hadal Maw to interview, but technical issues keep getting in the way. Also, bonus points if you can tell me what artist the episode title is referencing. Beyond having a neat conversation with Ben about the Australian scene and his writing process, we discuss some news with Eden, mainly new music from No Sin Evades His Gaze, Ulsect, The Acacia Strain, Artificial Brain, Alpha Brutal, Orm and Slugdge. Also Violet Cold got signed, maybe? Enjoy.

Hey! This week we discuss stuff. Stuff like Marduk’s show getting cancelled because they’re thought to be nazis, Wintersun’s neverending shenanigans, Suicide Silence’s new album. Yeah, this episode is called “Salt”. But we also talk about Dimmu Borgir releasing a live DVD and a new album, Gruesome being a…